A former Belding basketball standout will be part of what college basketball players, coaches and fans know as March Madness.

Central Michigan University women’s basketball junior and 2010 Belding graduate Taylor Johnson will get her first taste of the NCAA Tournament, along with most of her teammates, on Saturday when the Chippewas take on Oklahoma in their regional opener.

CMU is the No. 11 seed in the Oklahoma City Region while the Sooners (22-10, 11-7 Big 12) are the No. 6 seed.

The Chippewas punched their ticket to the tournament by winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament last weekend, defeating Akron 86-68 in the title game. Johnson finished with 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the title game.

For the 2012-13 season, Johnson is averaging 8.6 points per game and has earned 5.4 rebounds per game.

Johnson said after falling in the last seconds to Eastern Michigan in the 2012 conference title game, she and her teammates were motivated to get back and win it this year.

“That loss last year fueled our fire,” she said. “I still get mad about it, but we knew we had to come into the MAC Tournament and leave everything on the floor.”

Although CMU is making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1984, the roster is not totally void of “Big Dance” experience.

Johnson said the players have been looking to senior Jessica Schroll to get an idea of what to expect this weekend. The Midland native transferred to CMU in 2013 from Iowa State, where she got to play in the NCAA Tournament.

CMU (21-11, 12-4 in MAC) started the season by going 6-7. However, the front end of the schedule was loaded with power conference teams like Saint Joseph’s, Green Bay, Notre Dame, Purdue, Northwestern, Marquette, Florida and Texas. The Chippewas earned wins over St. Joe’s and the then-No. 20 ranked Longhorns during that stretch.

During league play, CMU only dropped four games, and won their first seven against MAC opponents.

Johnson said CMU Coach Sue Guevara set up the team’s schedule to be tough to help them come tournament time.

“Coach put together a tough schedule for us to be ready for the MAC Championship,” she said.

That strategy paid off as the regular season came to an end.

In its MAC Tournament opener, CMU forced Bowling Green into committing 32 turnovers in an 81-48 win, then topped regular season conference champion Toledo 66-61 in the semifinals.

CMU led 39-35 at the break in the MAC Championship game, then outscored the Zips 47-33 in the second half.

The Sooners are favored to advance to the second round on Saturday, but Johnson said her team embraces being the underdog.

Page 2 of 2 - “We take pride in it,” she said. “We haven’t gotten a lot of respect in the past. We earned a little this year, but we want people to know who we are and that we are a good team.”

Although she spends most of her time in Mt. Pleasant, Johnson is still very connected with her hometown. Throughout her college career, she still visits Belding quite a bit and has many friends who support her there.

“Belding is my home and every time I come home I have a lot of people that will come up and ask me how I am doing,” she said. “Even when I am at school, my dad (Jim Johnson) always tells me somebody asks how i’m doing.”

CMU and Oklahoma will tip off the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at 11:10 a.m. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.